ABRIR 3.2. La adolescencia - Biblioteca de la Universidad ...

Ficción y Realidad en la obra de ‘truman Capote
To keep alive the publies interest in the promised work, in 1975 he
decided to allow the magazine Esquire to print portions of the unfinished
novel. The decision was catastrophic to the grand social life he had
cultivated because, in one of the excerpts, “La Cote Basque,” Mr. Capote
toid apparently true and mostly scandalous stories about his famous
friends, naming names, and in so doing forever lost their friendship and
many other friendships as well.
Alcohol and Drug Problems
Soon his long-simmering problems with alcohol and drugs grew
into addictions, and his general health deteriorated alarmingly. The once
sylphlike and youthfl.il Mr. Capote grew paunchy and bald, and in the late
1 970’s he underwent treatment for alcoholism and drug abuse, had prostate
surgery and suifered from a painful facial nerve condition, a tic doloreux.
In “Musie for Chameleons,” a collection of short nonfiction pieces
published in 1980, Mr. Capote, in a “self-interview,” asked himself
whether, at that point in his life, God had helped him. His answer: “Yes.
More and more. But I’m not a saint yet. I’m an alcoholic. I’m a drug addict.
I’m homosexual. Vm a genius. Of course, 1 could be alí four of these
dubious things and still be a saint.”
Named Truman Streckfus Persons afler his birth in New Orleans
on Sept. 30, 1924, he was the son of Archulus Persons, a nonpracticing
lawyer and member of an oíd Alabama family, and ofthe former Lillie Mae
Faulk, of Monroeville, Ala. Years later he adopted the surnarne of bis
stepfather, Joe Capote, a Cuban-born New York businessman.
Mr. Capotes mother, who eventually committed suicide, liked to
be called Nina and was not, according to her own testimon>’ as well as her
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